Engraving of Reverend William Alers Hankey on a monument in Hankey

Hankey is situated on the eastern end of the Gamtoos River Valley which stretches about 50Km long, and is the oldest town in the valley.

I've been to Hankey myself a few years back and stayed on a farm outside of the little town. It gets incredibly hot and muggy in summer. I always wondered at the name Hankey and if it was so named because one needs a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from one's brow repeatedly on a long hot summer's day in this region...

But as with many South African place names this small town is named after someone from way back when.

Wikipedia tells us who:

In 1822 Dr John Philip, the superintendent of the London Missionary Society established a mission station on the farm Wagendrift and named it after Reverend William Alers Hankey, the treasurer of the London Missionary Society.

Now here's something interesting - I love co-incidences and I am writing this post on 19 August 2011, which happens to be my own birthday.

Then I came across the following sentence in the Wikipedia 'Hankey' page:

"On August 19, 2002, the remains of Saartjie Baartman were laid to rest on Vergaderingskop, a hill on the edge of town."

For those who don't know the name Saartjie Baartman, she was was a Khoikhoi women who was used as a live exhibition in a freak show  in 19th century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus.

So now you know :-)